nz_gofandomcom-20200214-history
2015 AGM
NZGS 2015 AGM ' '''Auckland September 27. 1:30pm Venue: 520 Gt South Rd, Greenlane, Auckland = Present: = Kevin Lui, Linda Hu, Colin Grierson, Ken Xie , Zhong Tang, Dongqing Wan, Shiyong Du, Bo Cheng, Dennis Liu, Kevin Ho, Steven Ho, Juhau Zhou, Longyang Li, Laris Du, Richard Kim, Richard Ngo, Hayden Tang, Modi Yang, Henry Chen, Sonny Wong Apologies: David Wu = Closing last year = Kevin Liu apologised for being late, he said he had lost his car keys and had to borrow a car to drive from Tauranga. Well done getting here at all! Kevin gave a brief President’s speech reviewing the highlights of the past year We held the NZ national championships in Wellington, thanks Chahine for organising this. We held regional championships in Auckland, Dunedin and Wellington, Mike Taler hosted a get together at Opito bay Doyoung Kim represented us at the KPMC, coming 20th of 52. Well done Douyoung. John Chen represented us at the WAGC, coming 44 of 57. At both international events spirit is more important than the results and I am sure we were represented well.' ' Linda Hu presented the NZGS accounts The society, finances are healthy, particularly the Bookshop. Not much changes year to year, we have few expenses and little income. Colin gave the bookshop report: My quietest year ever. Very few sales. We have quite a bit of stock, mostly boards and stones, books are not requested often now as much information can be found on the Internet. ' ' = Elections = Kevin, Colin and Linda agreed to stand again for President, Secretary and Treasurer respectively. After some discussion the following people were nominated as ordinary committee members. Du Shiyoung Dennis Liu Juhau Zhou Laris Du Ken Xie ' ' Ken Xie will in in China most of the year - he can be our agent there :-) ' Chahine, Graeme Parmenter and John Chen will be invited to join the committee, or at least be on the mailing list so that all parts of New Zealand are involved in the society decisions. * Graeme has asked to be put onto the NZGS mailing list. * Chahine and John have both accepted the invitation to be part of the committee. ' ' = General business ' = Sourcing money for payment of the NZGS International Go Federation fees. Colin gave the history In the begining the WAGC representative got a free trip to Japan, was hosted for the event and given spending money. The spending money given was about the amount required to pay our IGF fees, so it seemed fair to require our representative to do this. It may even have been the organiser’s intention. Later the spending money stopped being given. However the IGF fee is much less than the value of the trip, so we continued requiring our representative to pay it. ' Now the WAGC representative has to pay their own transport, however the KPMC tournament has 50% subsidised travel, as does the Pair Go tournament. So we have been asking our representatives to the travel subsidised tournaments to pay the IGF fee. While the NZGS currently does not collect membership fees, the annual interest on the Bookshop account is sufficient to pay the IGF fee. Graeme Parmenter, when asked if he wished to be our KPMC representative this year said: “Asking the representatives to pay the NZGS fee to the IGF is so mean spirited as to be positively unpleasant. You could argue that there is so much demand to go that you can get people to pay their (and the NZGS's!) way, and market rules apply. I prefer to take the view that the players are representing the country and should be supported by their national association. But we would have to collect affiliation fees from people to make this sustainable. Well yes, we would. Is that impossible to do?” So, how should we source IGF fees? ' '''Juhau: “Keep the current scheme. If no one wants to go call me” Kevin Liu: “An NZ membership fee for all Go society members so the cost is shared.” Linda: “If money is a problem people can ask the society for support” John Chen “... the society can help organise fund raising. Fund raising doubles as promotion” Juhua “Representing New Zealand at the WAGC or KPMC is an honour, a privilege. People should contribute. ' 'More discussion followed, I recorded: * What does the NZGS get from the IGF? Mostly the international tournaments. * Is it fair to ask people who just come along to club nights to pay for something they will never receive? The feeling of the room shifted to requiring representatives to wholly or largely pay the IGF fees and the discussion switched to exactly how this should be done. ' 'Colin: “Divide the fee among the people receiving a subsidised trip” Linda: “A flat rate of $100 each” ' 'Discussion followed then a vote. A flat rate of $100 won 10 votes to 3. Writing this now, I’m not sure if this is to apply to all our international representatives, or only those who receive subsidised travel. I will email the people present at the AGM to clarify this. ‘International tournament’ Kevin Liu spoke of our attempt to organise a Go Congress last year, with participants from overseas and a professional in attendance. We tried last year to hold a 3 day tournament in August. John Chen organised a chinese professional, we had a venue arranged and a plan for the schedule of events. However the overseas participants did not eventuate and the local participation was likely to be low, so we had to cancel it. Should we try again? ' 'Juhau Zhou Yes. “Make more like society. Not substantial difficulty. Should organise far ahead: 1/2 year is not enough, 1 year is better" ' 'After general discussion a sub committee was formed. Kevin to organise a physical get together as soon as possible. Kevin Lui, Colin Grierson, Juhau Zhou, Du Shiyong, Sonny Wong, Linda Hu, John Chen, Linda Hu Kevin reports that due to people’s schedules, it will be November before a get together is possible. = Promotion = Kevin spoke on promoting Go. We must be stronger at promoting Go in schools. ' 'Linda: “Chess is doing well at primary schools, there is no reason Go should not do well also.” Not much discussion, we all know it has to be done. Taking action is a long standing problem. ' '''Kevin Ho was assigned the role of University ambasador * To try to get a club started at the Auckland University - Universities actually as several are present now. * Kevin Liu offered to help * Graeme Parmenter should be contacted as he has successfully started a club recently. Primary School promotion sub committee * Linda Hu * Laris Du * Colin Grierson = Time control system = The Fisher time control system used in the Auckland tournament has worked well. Very well actually. * We gave 20 minutes starting time, plus 30 seconds added per move. * No one got into time trouble * All games finished within the allotted time * Generally games finished faster than in other tournaments we have held * Many apps are available for Smart phones that can run this timing system. I tried several and like ‘Chess Clock For Android’ best - at least for the Fisher Timing method. It works well enough that I would not buy another Chess Clock. * One or two games looked like they might go over their allotted time. If we use this again - and I think we should - I would recommend 30 minutes starting time and 20 seconds per move. Someone pointed out international tournaments are played with a fixed time plus byo-yomi. Being familiar with this system is a small advantage for our representatives. ' = Meeting closed = The meeting closed at 2:45 ' '''